Former President Donald Trump was widely mocked after he deleted a post criticizing Juan Merchan—the judge overseeing his hush money trial—over adult film performer Stormy Daniels being called as a witness.
Trump's decision to delete the post came a day after Merchan found Trump in contempt of court for the 10th time and said he’ll consider "a jail sanction" moving forward if he violates the gag order again. Merchan said that the "magnitude of this decision is not lost on me but at the end of the day I have a job to do" and fined Trump $1,000 for the violation, ordering he pay the fine by close of business Friday.
Merchan has made it clear that Trump's gag order violations are punishable by a fine of up to $1,000, by jail time of up to 30 days, or both.
But Trump seemed to violate the order again by commenting on Daniels' upcoming testimony, calling it "unprecedented" even though she's the reason a case was brought against him in the first place:
"I have just recently been told who the witness is today. This is unprecedented, no time for lawyers to prepare. No Judge has ever run a trial in such a biased and partisan way."
He is CROOKED & HIGHLY CONFLICTED, even taking away my First Amendment Rights. Now he's threatening me with JAIL & THEY HAVE NO CASE - This according to virtually all Legal Scholars & Experts!"
"Why isn't the Fake News Media reporting his Conflict?"
You can see Trump's post below.
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Although Trump did delete his post, that action did not go unnoticed and was first brought to people's attention by MSNBC producer Kyle Griffin, who noted Trump deleted the post after "about 20 minutes."
The criminal trial in New York revolves around accusations that Trump falsified business records in an attempt to conceal hush money payments made to Daniels before the 2016 general election.
Trump's former attorney, Michael Cohen, reportedly paid $130,000 to Daniels to keep quiet about her alleged affair with Trump. These payments were later reimbursed to Cohen by the Trump through monthly installments, which were recorded as payments for legal services, over the course of Trump's first year in office. But the payment to Daniels, and the scheme to conceal it, was hatched prior to the election.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.
But as many people noted, Trump isn't actually helping his case at all.
Trump's latest gag order violation came just a few days after his attorney Todd Blanche argued to Merchan that Trump should be allowed to defend himself against online attacks, even from witnesses in the hush money case against him. However, Blanche's argument did not resonate with the court.
The proceedings took an odd turn when Blanche read a series of tweets mocking his client. One of these tweets came from Cohen, who repeatedly referred to Trump by the nickname "Von ShitzInPantz," which Blanche read aloud, including for Trump himself.
Blanche also mentioned that Cohen had retweeted an edited image of Trump as a bright orange superhero named "Super Victim," causing laughter among those present. Merchan pointed out to Blanche that Cohen and others are witnesses in the case and not defendants, "a very significant issue you’re overlooking.”
Stormy Daniels took to the stand to testify about her sexual encounter with Trump on Tuesday morning.
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